Yukon

Yukon is a landlocked map featured in Age of Empires III. The map takes place in a location in Northern Canada and consists of an arctic wasteland with a flora and fauna suited with this kind of climate. Players start in the larger section of the map.

Resources in the Yukon consist of herds of caribou, moose and Musk Ox. There are plenty of trees around the map. A river cuts diagonally through the map; it has no fish. Players can still create warships on the river, although they cannot move through the rushes that connect the two areas. Both silver and gold mines can be found on the map, although gold mines near the river for the main area and deep down in the northern area. There is also a plethora of treasures around the map, including several high-leveled treasures.

In each map, there may be either two Cree or Nootkasettlements across the river. The access to the northern area of the river may have two or three crossings. There is also a trade route which always has four trade sites.

"Your enemy's towns are close, so be on your guard. Cross the central river and claim the Treasure-rich region to the north. Mines are plentiful on the northern half of the map; expect to struggle until you have a second town.

"The Yukon is sandwiched between Alaska to the west and the Canadian northwest territories in the east. It has long winters and short summers, when hardy grains and flowering plants thrive briefly. The sparsely limbed sub-alpine fir is well adapted to the heavy snows of the Yukon winter. Grizzly bears, black bears, and polar bears all live in the Yukon. Caribou, moose, elk, musk ox, and red deer all thrive is the frozen terrain despite predation by wolves.

The first non-natives to explore the Yukon were Russians. (actually the first was a Dane in the Russian Navy, Vitus Bering, who was exploring the western coast of North America). In the late nineteenth century, gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek, now Bonanza Creek, which became the heart of the Klondike or Yukon gold rush. More than 25,000 eager prospectors descended on the inhospitable place to strike it rich. It was only a few years before easily accessible gold deposits were exhausted and the boom ended."